Babolat Play: First connected racquet at a major

Paris, Roland-Garros — Babolat is proud to announce a Grand Slam first: members of Team Babolat will play in the French Open with the Babolat Play Pure Drive connected tennis racket.

For the first time in the history of tennis, players will turn on their racket before starting to play. At the end of the match, players will be able to collect data - previously inaccessible in tennis - thanks to sensors in the handle of the racket. This historic moment marks the debut of a new era in tennis where player analysis technologies are allowed in competition, according to a new International Tennis Federation (ITF) rule in effect since January 1, 2014 (ITF Rule 31).

Karolina Pliskova (CZE), Julia Görges (GER) and Ana Konjuh (CRO) will become the first players in tennis history to play a “connected” Grand Slam match, with other players still to be announced. This is the first page in a new chapter of the game. “I believe that in the near future, all tennis rackets will be connected,” said Eric Babolat, President and CEO of Babolat.